Hexad: The Ward Read Online Free PDF Page B

Caretaker?"
    Amanda turned to Dale and said, "He's The Caretaker."
    "And?"
    "And nothing. He's 'The' Caretaker." Amanda made bunny ears with her fingers.
    "Fine," said Dale in a huff, and carried on dishing up the food.
    "I don't know what else to say. That's what he is. He's The Caretaker."
    "Of everything?" asked Dale, sliding fried eggs onto their plates, the yolks golden and runny. Amanda eyed them greedily. "Amanda?"
    "Yes, of course. Now can I have my fry-up or not?"
    Dale served lunch.
    It felt too surreal for words after the morning Amanda had experienced, or both of them, she supposed — it can't be easy watching yourself fade away like that, and just sitting down and eating like normal was a very strange experience.
    "Dale?"
    "Hmm?" said Dale, chewing on a slightly overdone hash brown.
    "What happened? Before you got up, I mean. It was a different you here when you woke up and freaked out, so obviously it wasn't this you. So how did you just suddenly appear?"
    Dale put down his cutlery. "I honestly don't know. I woke up in bed, had the remnants of a weird dream, tied up with going to get the milk from the fridge and I think maybe even little bits of memories of that Chamber, even you hanging on hooks or something, and that was it really. My head felt rough, like it always does from drinking, then I got up and came into the kitchen. You know the rest."
    "This is nuts," said Amanda, returning her attention to her food.
    "You can say that again."
    Thud.
    Dale and Amanda pushed their chairs back in panic as a small, spiral-bound notebook landed smack bang in Amanda's remaining fried egg, splattering yolk all over the table, almost staining her dress.
    "You know what?" said Amanda. "I really hate time travel."
    "Me too," said Dale. "At least we could have finished our food first."
    Amanda picked up the notepad, neither of them had touched the Hexad yet, and read the cover. "Jobs for Dale and Amanda, by Tellan."
    "At least we'll have some idea how to do whatever we have to so we can get back to normal," said Dale.
    Amanda opened the notebook to the first page.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    "Learn Your Lines...
    Present Day
     
    ...and stop moaning," said Amanda, sure Dale was being awkward on purpose.
    "It's hurting my head," complained Dale. "After having to make that stupid book, telling us, you know, the us that are in The Chamber, what they were supposed to do, although it didn't really tell them much to be honest, then my mind is a mess. Now I have to learn this."
    It had been going on for hours. They'd followed the instructions in the notebook, first finding an empty A4 pad and making a book just as described, Dale having to write it as that was what happened when the other them, well, actually it was them, they just couldn't remember, had got hold of it.
    Dale had completely exasperated Amanda saying why didn't he write something more useful, her replying that he couldn't because he didn't, and did he want to risk the end of the world just by trying to be clever? Dale did as he was told, but it meant the confusion of the day built as they got deeper and deeper into the concepts of time travel.
    By the time they'd had about their seventh cup of coffee and moved to rehearsing a conversation they'd already apparently had with themselves far into a future that shouldn't even be there as it had gone because they eradicated Hexad production, well, neither of them were at their calmest or most accommodating.
    The day was too surreal. Amanda had already witnessed a Dale disappear as her current Dale walked into the kitchen, and the fact he was taking that in his stride made it feel like an impossible dream — if not for the Hexad, Tellan, and the belief she was out of her own universe, Amanda would have believed she had lost her mind. Maybe she had? It would certainly explain the madness.
    "Okay, let's have a little break," said Amanda. "And I'm sorry."
    "For what?" asked Dale, as he leaned back in his chair, his neck cracking